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Keyboards

Carrie turned on her laptop and a few of her keys don't work anymore, so she can't log in. Leo says that may indicate that her keyboard is dead or that those keys have broken. The good news is that she can plug in a USB keyboard and use it that way. She could also pry up the key caps on her laptop keyboard and see if there's some dirt or lint in them. That can easily cause a lack of connection between the keys above and below. Canned air will get rid of all that.

Jeff is getting strange random key strokes appearing in his browser bar. Leo says to try a different browser. Windows comes with both Edge and Internet Explorer. If it happens in both browsers, it could be a failing keyboard. Jeff should unplug his keyboard and try a new one. If he still has the issue, then it's a Windows problem, which could be malware or a browser hijack. He could try resetting his browser first. If that solves the problem, then he's fine. If not, then it may be that he'll need to reinstall Windows from a known good source.

Gina's iMac keyboard isn't very comfortable. Where can she get a new one? Jason recommends going over to thewirecutter.com and search for "Keyboards." Her Mac can use any keyboard out there, and in the System Preferences there's also an option to swap the Command and Option keys for those who need that preference.

Fern paired her Bluetooth keyboard to her mobile phone, but it keeps trying to bring up the on screen keyboard. Leo recommends re-pairing the keyboard. Go to Settings > Bluetooth, the find the keyboard and "forget" it. Then reacquire it like the first time.

Mike has a laptop that he bought a few years ago, but the space bar in the keyboard isn't working because the switch broke. They want to replace the entire keyboard for it. Leo says it could be an easy fix and he could even replace it himself. Mike should check out MaxKeyboard.com and iFixit.com.

Mark wants to get a keyboard for his Android phone. Leo says that any Bluetooth keyboard will work with either Android or iOS. If he wanted to use a wired keyboard, his phone needs to support USB to Go and he would need a special connector. It's a lot easier to go with Bluetooth. Targus makes a good fold up one.

He would also like a report to see what files have been deleted from Carbonite. Leo says that Carbonite won't delete files unless he deletes them locally, which is why they give 30 days to restore them. A backup isn't a backup if he deletes the original.

Greg's 08 MacBook Pro makes a strange noise. Now it even autotypes all by itself! Leo says it sounds like a stuck key. He should go through all the keys just to see if one of the keys is sticking a bit. It's common as keyboards get dirty.

Rocko wants to know if there's a simpler keyboard for someone who has motor control issues or are vision challenged. Leo recommends going to Living Made Easy, which is a British company. He should also check a local independent living resource center as well, as they could help him out. Hypertec is a good company that offers larger button keyboards. Rocko should also check out BigKeys.com. Fry's and Walmart are known to carry large key keyboards as well.

John uses Windows, but he has an iPhone 6. The one thing he doesn't get is why Apple computers don't have a delete key. Leo says that Apple wants to get rid of older keys from the early days of computing, including Print Screen, Pause/Break, and even the Delete key. Apple actually got rid of the Delete key a long time ago. John will have to press CMD/Backspace to duplicate that function.

Mark has a teenage daughter who has a Windows 8 laptop she bought two years ago. They upgraded to WIndows 10, and now they're having issues with the laptop's keyboard and trackpad. They tried reinstalling the OS, but that didn't work. It does work with an external keyboard. Leo says that indicates a hardware failure, not the result of upgrading to Windows. Leo says that Mark can look in the Device Manager and see if there's any red X's by the trackpad and keyboard. It could just be a bad driver, but then again, they reinstalled the OS and the problem persists. So it has to be hardware.